This is a memoir of policing in the London East End, 1960s. The good old days, sort of. The author takes us through the training process and the work of bobbies on the beat. It was a good read but the writing style was too ordinary and a bit dry – it certainly read like it was written by a policeman – and I felt that the focus was too narrow. There is very little about his days before joining the police and nothing about afterwards. He enjoyed his work so I wanted to know why he left in the 70s and what he did after. Still, the book is evocative of what it was like in the East End and what sort of crimes were most likely. There are some amusing anecdotes and some sad ones, in addition to some gruesome, but not gratuitously-described crimes. His least favourite task was directing traffic, especially during the smogs. When they were not catching criminals, the police were usually to be found in the pubs.
The author has a lot to say on gratuities, because in those days they were given stuff for free, by friendly and grateful landlords, shopkeepers, residents, etc, which were perks of the job. He also explains some practices which today would seem dodgy but back then were acceptable and worked well for that time and place.
In summary this was an informative read which sometimes came across as defensive in tone and was not as fascinating as I expected, but still it was worth reading.
Published by Michael O’Mara, 2013.